Sunday, 1 November 2015

Immigrant dreams

You really have to wonder about Donald Trump and his views
on immigration. I’m not even talking about his scabrous, hate-filled opinion of
Mexican immigrants. (Like most who have worked in the bar/entertainment
business I admire and respect Mexicans – in particular their work ethic and
generosity of spirit.)

No
I’m talking about the economic boon that immigrants (both legal and otherwise)
provide to the US.

And
by the way, a very hearty farewell to Governor Walker of Wisconsin! I can’t say
he’ll be missed – anyone who builds his resume on eviscerating labor unions has
little interest in preserving a very challenged American middle-class.

However, the good governor did
provide one of the great comic moments of this campaign by suggesting that a
wall be built the length of the Canadian border. I was never quite sure who we
were keeping out – ISIS or the Blue Jays?

Mr. Trump may be a very successful
entertainer, and I’m told the golf courses that bear his name are top class, but
doesn’t he understand that with the US population rapidly aging and work force
participation tumbling, immigrants are essential to help expand the economy.

Right now there’s a shortage of
workers in the building trades – particularly in Arizona and Southern California.
Many Mexican workers went home during the Great Recession and show little sign
of returning.

A healthy housing market is
synonymous with a thriving economy and lack of skilled labor in this important
field is contributing to the sluggish recovery. Like it or lump it, we’re
dependent on foreign labor.

Should there be a general
immigration amnesty. From a purely economic point of view – yes! Imagine the
benefits of adding over 11 million undocumented people to the tax rolls.

Most credible schemes for legalizing
the undocumented also demand that back taxes be paid; imagine the enormous
benefit to the country’s finances on both a state and federal level.

I know there’s a pervasive fear
that the undocumented are putting huge pressure on schools and social services.
This does happen. But we are a civilized nation that strives to educate and
care for all children. The alternative is a huge permanent uneducated lower
class that would be even a worse drain on society and the economy.

And what of our own undocumented Irish
people? Having been one myself I know what it’s like to fear a telephone call
in the night informing you of the illness or death of a relative. To know you
can’t risk returning home and offering support is a cruel thing.

It’s always stunning to hear a
person of Irish descent rave on in a Know-Nothing manner about “these people”
who should be repatriated, when only generations ago their own forebears were
derided and insulted by nativist politicians.

And what of the Republican Party
and its near paranoiac fear of “big government? Has the GOP forgotten that its
greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, won the Civil War and abolished slavery only
by harnessing and expanding the might of the Federal Government to suppress
“states rights?”

The
GOP’s patrician leader, Teddy Roosevelt considered it his patriotic duty to trust-bust
the railroads and other monopolies with the help of the federal government.
While its war hero, General Dwight Eisenhower, built a system of national
highways and bridges that not only unified the country but led to a generation
of economic expansion.

One
need hardly mention that the same highways and bridges are slowly falling apart
because of the reluctance of many Republican legislators to borrow money at current
minimal rates, not to mention that this common sense action would create jobs
and speed up economic recovery.

It’s
time for Republican voters to demand credible economic plans from their
remaining candidates.

Of course many have enjoyed the previous
two xenophobic, militaristic reality shows also known as Republican debates;
but many more tremble at the thought of any of these participants getting
elected and implementing their corporate trickle down economic policies.

As
for Mr. Trump, since he seems short of ideas on how to implement his nativist
policies, how about marching the eleven million undocumented north instead of
south – there’s a lot of empty space up there in Canada.

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